WINGATE -- Harvey Michael tells the story of the late John Bivens attending church as a young boy, when many of the members rode horses and donkeys to get there.

The church, Wingate Baptist, was known as Meadow Branch at the time and stood within a hop, skip and a jump of the railroad tracks. When a train came by on Sunday morning, the four-legged fleet would take off, giving Bivens and his friends an excuse to leave and chase them down.

Wingate Baptist celebrates its 200th anniversary today as the longest-running missionary Baptist church in Union County.

Even through the Civil War and Great Depression, “somebody was here to open the doors,” Pastor Derrill Smith said. This is Smith’s ninth year at the church.

Its founding pastor, Joseph Williams, served as a chaplain in the regiment during the Revolutionary War and planted the church in 1810 when the town was known as Ames Turnout. James Madison was president.

The current church building was complete in 1922; the name changed to Wingate Baptist in 1931.

Walt Perry, 84, is a lifelong member. His great-grandfather was on the church role when its rules were much more rigid.

When one member was accused of making liquor, Perry said, he went to “trial” and faced excommunication. It wasn’t until the man admitted to selling the liquor to “Preacher Davis” that his case was dismissed.

Another man endangered his membership when he stayed home from church to harvest his wheat, Perry said. He told church leaders that it was better to be in a field with his mind in the church than vice versa. That, too, was dismissed.

The church has since grown to about 400 members and prides itself on standing firm in the faith while staying open-minded to those of different backgrounds.

“In order to reach more people, we’re trying to find different ways that can remain faithful to our heritage but speak to the contemporary needs of people,” Smith said. The church is a member of both the Union Baptist Association and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Wingate Baptist partners with local Methodist, Presbyterian and Pentecostal churches and devotes time and money to house homeless children in the Ukraine.

Yet, former pastor Jim Somerville said the church has its challenges.

At one time, he said, “culture seemed to be pushing everybody through the front doors of church, and now it seems to be dragging them out.”

Fifty years ago, Smith said, most restaurants and movie theaters were closed on Sundays. Church now competes with work, sporting events and other Sunday happenings.

Many churches employ drama, concert-like music and an endless schedule of events to draw visitors, but “sometimes, you lose your main purpose and it’s all about getting people into the pews at any cost,” said Somerville, a pastor in Richmond, Va. Church is about “changing people’s lives and hearts.”

Michael, a retired teacher, joined the church 45 years ago when he attended Wingate College. “People just took us in almost as if we were natives of Union County,” said Michael, who spent his childhood in Gaston County. He considers the church his family.

The same goes for Somerville, who fondly refers to Wingate as the town “time forgot and the decades could not improve.” He expects the church to be there another 200 years from now.

Wingate Baptist will celebrate with services at 6 p.m. today and 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sunday. Somerville will be the guest speaker.